Sun 14th Feb

A day of pluses and negatives, this afternoon while I was out up towards the former church at the top of the hill, 20 Chough flew overhead, a great site to see, that was the plus. The negative was in an e mail through from Malcolm that a Gyr Falcon had been found dead on the strand, it was on the lean side and had been dead for a few days. Whether this was the same bird that was down at Portnahaven and the Oa, or was it a completely different bird as there has been speculation of 2 birds being present.

Tues 9th Feb

We managed to get this image of a Greenland Whitefront with a neck collar this afternoon. When we first saw it, the goose was less than 20 metres away, but got spoofed and flew off before we could read it, and landed further away from us! When it first landed we took several images of it with its' neck erect and we read the collar as 16F, and it was not until we got home and had a further look at the images, to see in fact that it is J6F. To cut a long story short, I have spoken with Steve Percival who does the ringing of the Barnacle Geese here on Islay, and Steve will try to find out the history behind J6F.

John Armitage e mailed through today to say that the Gyr Falcon had been seen on the Oa yesterday. Catherine had the Little Egret on the floods on the reserve at Gruinart again this morning.

Sat 30th Jan

Some visiting birders who are over for the weekend have been well impressed with our Islay birds. They had the good fortune to see the Gyr Falcon down at Portnahaven, over at Gruinart they saw the Lesser Canada Goose, hutchinsii on the flats on the reserve. Up here at Kilchoman, they had seen a couple of Golden Eagle and a Peregrine. One of the Eagles was later getting mobbed by a Raven. This image is one of these sub adult birds on the wing. For a few moments it was on the ground, those images I took were not that great!

Fri 22nd Jan

Not the best, but for the distance it was taken from you will just have to believe me that this is the Gyr Falcon sitting along with 2 Hooded Crows. Earlier on, and further along the falcon was sitting by itself getting dive bombed by black backed Gulls, it took off, and it was followed by these 2 Hoodies. Initially they too mobbed it in flight, but when it landed, they landed alongside! Thanks to Peter Roberts for finding it again, and getting the word round Islay......

James today had to make do with the ever present Little Egret on the reserve at Gruinart, as well as a Merlin. Louise had also seen another Merlin on the North west of Islay as well as a Golden Eagle today. Later on last night, I heard that the Tree Sparrow had been seen down on the Oa yesterday. News from almost all 4 corners of Islay!

Sun 17th Jan

Another great day weatherwise over here, Malcolm commented on having a Great Tit singing in his garden, it was almost as if in March not mid January! As it was so good, James had been out round Ardnave Point and had 8 Snow Bunting and also 19 Purple Sandpiper. Also Peter at his house in Bruichladdich was well pleased with over 10 Goldfinches and more than 5 Greenfinches at his feeders today. Peter had gone down to look for the Gyr Falcon at Portnahaven, with no luck, but had met in with another birder who had seen it about 30 minutes prior to their meeting!
By the way, there were a few Fulmars in on the crag this morning, are we due for a change in the weather in a few days time?

Sat 16th Jan

There was a sighting of a Gyr Falcon today, it was first seen at Killeyan down on the Oa by Andy Schofield, and then later on it was over at Portnahaven and seen by John Armitage.

James had the lesser Canada Goose, hutchinsii , over at Gruinart this morning and also a Peregrine later on.

George had 47 Greenland Whitefronted Geese up on his fields today along with a few Greylags. He had also seen a couple of Goldeneye at Bowmore yesterday, and a further 4 over in the bay at Port Ellen. Also today, George had a flock of 60 Lapwing flying down Loch Indaal, with intent, could they be thinking of heading over to Ireland?